In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ; Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover !
A savage place ! as holy and enchanted By woman wailing for her demon-lover !
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced : Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river. Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves ;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves. It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice !
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid, Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me, That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware ! Beware ! Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
TPCASTT:
Title: Seems foreign. Khan would suggest an Asian name. Paraphrase: A great leader, Kubla Khan, builds a "pleasure-dome" in a beautiful land called Xanadu. However, as a challenge to the gods, a "heaven on earth", the overly great human ambition leads to its catastrophe. The speaker recalls a lady who sings and plays music, and claims that, if he could remember her music, he could build a true paradise, asserting himself as equivalent to a god. Connotation:
1st stanza - describes setting as a beautiful place, similar to Eden.
"walls...girdled round" (7) - containment of gardens of pleasure.
"ancient as the hills" (10), "Alph, the sacred river" (3), and "measureless to man" (4) - all insinuate superior qualities, perhaps godlike.
"cedarn cover" (13) - hidden, secretive qualities or motives.
"woman wailing for her demon-lover" (16) - human sin, scandelous attempt to associate with the supernatural; forbidden human activity, similar to the creation of the pleasure-dome.
"earth in fast thick pants were breathing" (18) - godly intervention and reactions to the efforts of Kubla Khan to overstep humanly boundaries.
"Ancestral voices prophesying war" (30) - dead spirits and gods attack the faux-god and faux-heaven Kubla Khan and pleasure-dome.
"shadow of the dome" (31) - darkness in supposed "heaven on earth".
"Sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice" (36) - with "caves of ice" representing evil, the pleasure dome cannot be heaven when evil exists with it.
"Abyssinian" (39) - supposed location of Eden
"Mount Abora" (41) - great, godly mountain.
"And all should cry, Beware! Beware!" (49) - the power in the remembered music leading to the building of the dome is great - the power of him is great.
"his flashing eyes, his floating hair" (50) - similar to eyes and hair of depictions of gods.
"For he...of Paradise." (53-54) - he is a god, having dined in Paradise as a god does. Attitude: The speaker is, in the beginning, seeming to only recall a devistating event, but becomes longing towards the end, expressing his desire to remember the music of his muse and display himself as a god. Shifts: 11-12: shift from apparent beauty of the pleasure-dome to its hidden evil.
36-37: shift from recollection of past events to desire of future events. Theme: humans will create their own demise by setting themselves equivalent to gods. Only a god (such as the speaker) can create heaven that transcends earthly boundaries of pleasure - all other humans are either doomed to remain in fear of these gods and live a mediocre, earth-bound life, or are doomed to destroy themselves in an attempt to rise above the restrictions of their mortal lives. Title: "Kubla Khan" is a man who challenged the gods by claiming, through his actions, to be equivalent to a god. Kubla Khan is a metaphoric representation of the portion of humans who attempt to exceed their roles as humans and act with the self-instigated authority and power of a superior being, and he meets the demise that shall also be met by such people.
Voicethread
"Kubla Khan"
Samuel Coleridge
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh ! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover !
A savage place ! as holy and enchanted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover !
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced :
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves ;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice !
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was an Abyssinian maid,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome ! those caves of ice !
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware ! Beware !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
TPCASTT:
Title: Seems foreign. Khan would suggest an Asian name.
Paraphrase: A great leader, Kubla Khan, builds a "pleasure-dome" in a beautiful land called Xanadu. However, as a challenge to the gods, a "heaven on earth", the overly great human ambition leads to its catastrophe. The speaker recalls a lady who sings and plays music, and claims that, if he could remember her music, he could build a true paradise, asserting himself as equivalent to a god.
Connotation:
1st stanza - describes setting as a beautiful place, similar to Eden.
"walls...girdled round" (7) - containment of gardens of pleasure.
"ancient as the hills" (10), "Alph, the sacred river" (3), and "measureless to man" (4) - all insinuate superior qualities, perhaps godlike.
"cedarn cover" (13) - hidden, secretive qualities or motives.
"woman wailing for her demon-lover" (16) - human sin, scandelous attempt to associate with the supernatural; forbidden human activity, similar to the creation of the pleasure-dome.
"earth in fast thick pants were breathing" (18) - godly intervention and reactions to the efforts of Kubla Khan to overstep humanly boundaries.
"Ancestral voices prophesying war" (30) - dead spirits and gods attack the faux-god and faux-heaven Kubla Khan and pleasure-dome.
"shadow of the dome" (31) - darkness in supposed "heaven on earth".
"Sunny pleasure dome with caves of ice" (36) - with "caves of ice" representing evil, the pleasure dome cannot be heaven when evil exists with it.
"Abyssinian" (39) - supposed location of Eden
"Mount Abora" (41) - great, godly mountain.
"And all should cry, Beware! Beware!" (49) - the power in the remembered music leading to the building of the dome is great - the power of him is great.
"his flashing eyes, his floating hair" (50) - similar to eyes and hair of depictions of gods.
"For he...of Paradise." (53-54) - he is a god, having dined in Paradise as a god does.
Attitude: The speaker is, in the beginning, seeming to only recall a devistating event, but becomes longing towards the end, expressing his desire to remember the music of his muse and display himself as a god.
Shifts: 11-12: shift from apparent beauty of the pleasure-dome to its hidden evil.
36-37: shift from recollection of past events to desire of future events.
Theme: humans will create their own demise by setting themselves equivalent to gods. Only a god (such as the speaker) can create heaven that transcends earthly boundaries of pleasure - all other humans are either doomed to remain in fear of these gods and live a mediocre, earth-bound life, or are doomed to destroy themselves in an attempt to rise above the restrictions of their mortal lives.
Title: "Kubla Khan" is a man who challenged the gods by claiming, through his actions, to be equivalent to a god. Kubla Khan is a metaphoric representation of the portion of humans who attempt to exceed their roles as humans and act with the self-instigated authority and power of a superior being, and he meets the demise that shall also be met by such people.